Business Writing 101

Business Writing 101

Business writing can cover any type of writing that is done in a business context. This includes documents, memos, sales copy, and communications, among others. So how exactly does business writing happen? What goes into writing for business and in which ways is it different than regular article or blog writing?

Structure in Business Writing

For most businesses, finding a similar format to use for most, if not all of your documents will make filing your files easier in the long run. For this reason, you should have what is considered a template, or a file that has all of the formatting, such as borders and spacing already done to help streamline the process.

Many businesses may not have a structure; however, it is not hard to pick one up or make one. When it comes to structure, there are a few for you to choose from.

Chronological structure.

For certain documents, it can be best to structure them chronologically, or ordered by time. This can help when you have work that needs to be done by a certain time, or when organizing work to have done each week, or quarter.

Alphabetical Structure

When you have a lot of files that have separate ideas, it may be best to organize them alphabetically, or A-Z. This can be especially helpful when writing glossaries, or lists.

Topic Structure.

Splitting into categories based on different topics can help as well. Instead of making an FAQ page, you can make separate pages which each contain questions and answers to different topics.

Business Style

All business documents should be written with an air of professionalism. This means to write in a formal way, without making it too technical.

Examples of things to avoid would be:

Vague statements, this can become highly confusing to the reader.

“Facts” that are not supported by evidence.

Needless repetition – people get enough communications and brevity can be the difference between being read or ignored.

Humor, clichés, and anecdotes, including slang and informal language.

Buzzwords, as well as language that can be offensive. Doing so is unprofessional and can make your entire business look bad.

Passive Voice

Passive voice is used in order to not attribute an action to a specific person or group. This is especially important when the reader does not need to know who specifically was doing the action. This is also good to use if you either do not know the name of the person or group, or if you need to protect their identity. This can happen quite often when it comes to news writing.

However, it is good to use passive voice in moderation. Using it too often can disengage the reader, making them less likely to read the whole document.

So use less passive voice, but make sure it is used, follow a structure, and find a good business style to makes your writing look appropriate. Business writing can be tedious, but is does not have to be hard.

Purposeful Business Writing

As mentioned above, repetition can be problematic for some business writing. Memos, communications and company shared documents need to have a specific purpose. This ensures that they are easily referenced and remembered rather than being lost within countless others. Important topics should be given proper attention so never place them at the bottom of a list – they may well be dismissed or never seen.

Similarly, business writing with a clear purpose will be noted and those who communicate in that way will also be remembered positively – those who fill up pages with nonsense or repetitive drivel will be remembered negatively and future communications may not even be looked at!

Organization – The Real Key

When writing anything, organizing your thoughts, keeping them together and focused as well as laying them out in an intelligent fashion are vital to achieving a positive result.

Writer’s Blocks is a tool which allows you to bring all of your thoughts, inspiration, research, quotes and values together in one place and gives you the freedom to write better. The simple to use but invaluable software ensures your writing is always organized and put together properly without forgetting your key points.